Last month, the new Joint Fentanyl Impact Team seized 25,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills suspected of containing fentanyl in Wichita. A big blow to the distribution of the drug, right? Probably not, say the Drug Policy Alliance. They describe it as “the whack a mole” effect. You knock one down and another always seems to appear.
According to the state of Kansas, 678 people died in Kansas in 2021 from drug overdoses. Increased enforcement efforts coupled with harsher penalties for distributing fentanyl are common in just about every state as legislators react to the growing number of overdose deaths. Kansas Attorney Chris Kobach says the new policies and enforcements are going to be very difficult for smugglers to get around. He declined to discuss what those enforcements would look like, saying he will save the surprise for later.
In the same bill that increased penalties for manufacturing fentanyl in Kansas, the state also legalized fentanyl test strips, a step experts say is important to decreasing the risk of overdose deaths. That law went into effect July 1st. Kobach says it’s too early to tell whether it will make a difference.
